


popcorn and cult classics

by redstaronmyshoulder (CaptainAmelia22)



Category: Marvel (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Late Night Conversations, Marvel RarePair Exchange, Movie Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 08:31:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2102589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainAmelia22/pseuds/redstaronmyshoulder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not unusual for one or two of them to have a few sleepless nights.</p><p>How they handle them, though, tends to vary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	popcorn and cult classics

**Author's Note:**

> This is my RarePair exchange. 
> 
> I had a completely different one written but due to some unforseen technological events and health issues, that story didn't get finished in time.
> 
> So I wrote this one this morning after my body decided it would be great to wake-up at 6am on my day off. 
> 
> I like it, even if it isn't what I originally wanted for this exchange and I really hope my giftee likes it as well. 
> 
> -M

The smell of popcorn drifted through the living quarters of the Tower and Bruce's nose twitched in appreciation.  Most of the Tower inhabitants liked popcorn, but as was always the case with a group of people, everyone liked different flavors and different styles.  

Clint loved the cheap knock-off Save-A-Lot cheddar stuff that always made the Tower smell like dirty socks, especially when burnt the way he liked it.  Tony liked lightly salted, with extra sea salt from Spain, cracked out of a hand-held shaker.  Rhodey preferred pretzels and M&M's-something Pepper had always enjoyed since she herself didn't like popcorn. Thor liked pretty much everything and anything, including pretzels mixed with M&M's and popcorn.  Carol liked extra butter, the greasier and less natural, the better.  Steve liked the caramel corn you could get in tins from the Boy Scouts.  Sam liked the bagged stuff he could get at a gas station-puffy and full of fake butter flavor.  

Bruce's lips twitched at the thought and he hesitated for a moment outside of the living room/bar and sniffed once more.

So who was up at 3am, making popcorn?

His nose twitched and his eyes narrowed a bit, in consideration.

Orville Redenbacher.

Movie Theater style.

Natasha.

His hand clenched on the door handle, the muscles bunching a little too tightly on the slender metal knob, and he sighed.  

It had to be her.  Of course...I should go.

Before he could turn around and head back to his lab and his nightmares, though, the door was thrown open and there she was.

With the usual giant popcorn bowl every single one of them used when making snacks in hand, hair a tousled mess and bare legs gleaming in the half-light, the Black Widow looked anything but deadly.

She looked...happy.

"Bruce!" she gasped, eyes flying wide when she caught sight of him and somehow the popcorn bowl stayed intact in her arms, with a little help from his chest actually. "What are you doing?!"

He was speechless; he'd seen all of his teammates in various states of undress (of course he had, he was the only one with even a little bit of medical experience on the team, Hulk not withstanding.  He'd knitted them back together more times than counting, Black Widow included) but seeing her in an over-sized shirt bearing the likeness of his green counterpart and nothing else, kind of made him pause.  

"N-Natasha!" he stuttered, his hands brushing hers on the popcorn bowl pressed tight to his chest.  "What are you doing?"

She hesitated for a moment, green eyes considering, and then she grinned.  A mischievous light entered her eyes and before he could stop her, she was yanking him into the living space for once not full of lounging superheroes.  

"Well, I was going to go back to my room and sharpen my knives on some skulls I found in my closet (did you know human bone keeps knives as sharp as possible?) but now that you're here!"

She grinned wickedly at that, taking in his uncertainty and worry with something like glee but she only chuckled when he shifted and glanced over his shoulder towards the exit.

"Oh Bruce, lighten up," she growled fiercely, collapsing upon the couch as she did.  "I was just going to watch a movie and eat some popcorn."  Her wicked grin slid a bit back to her usual enigmatic smile and for the first time he noticed the shadows in her dark green eyes.

He'd seen those same shadows in Steve and Sam's eyes, after the events in DC.  He'd heard the three of them discussing those events and the men who had caused them in the past few months...but he'd never thought much on it.

He'd been...Well he'd been caught up in himself again, hadn't he?  In his "green meanie problem" as Tony liked to call it.  

And he'd been focused on Tony's issues as well-primarily the secret project he was constructing in the bowels of the Tower that was "going to change everything."

"Bruce?"

He jumped when her voice broke through his musings and he smiled sheepishly.  

"Sorry," he muttered, his voice rasping after so many hours in silence in his lab.  "I got lost in-in my thoughts."

She shook her head, shortened curls brushing her cheeks as she did and beckoned him towards the couch.  "Of course you did," she muttered, mostly to herself and as he walked around the couch and perched on the opposite from her, she snorted. "Things a little loud in there tonight, Banner?"

His eyes widened at that, at the casual way she mentioned the other half of his brain (almost as if she, herself, knew what it was like to share space in her own skull), and he nodded.

"Sometimes," he said slowly, hands fiddling nervously in his lap for a brief moment.  "Sometimes it's better to not even try sleeping."  

Bright green eyes locked on his, far-too knowledgeable for his comfort, and her smile shook just a bit.

"Yeah," she said softly.  "Yeah, I know the feeling."  

They were quiet for a moment, then-just as he started getting a little uncomfortable-a piece of popcorn flew between them and struck his temple.  

"All right," she snapped, mock confrontation in every line of her body. "I want to watch Heathers and seeing as how we could both be considered mentally deranged, I think it's appropriate, right?  And besides, the movie freaks me out so it's good you're here, because otherwise I would have had to wake Barton up and then he'd have to let Lucky out and it would turn into one big thing."  She grinned, that easy wicked grin he'd only noticed when she was messing with Steve or Tony.  His own lips twitched in response and as she settled right beside him, popcorn bowl tucked against their hips, she ordered JARVIS to play "that American classic, Heathers."

The AI was quiet for a moment and Bruce's eyebrows rose as the lights, already dim, lowered even more-almost to complete darkness-and the screen rolled down.

Then, as the film began to play, the AI sighed. "Madam, Mr. Stark would like to inform you that the film you have requested is nowhere near 'classic' and should you wish to argue, he would have you call a Ms. Ryder for authentication and he suggests you watch one film titled 'Clueless."

Natasha's eyes rolled as Bruce chuckled and she flicked another piece of popcorn towards the screen.  "Just play the movie, you freaky robot," she muttered.  "And if I hear anything more about Clueless, I'm going to scream."  

Her shoulder brushed Bruce's, the familiarity of such a simple movement making his skin bump and his skull tighten in warning; he glanced at her from out of the corner of his eye as the movie started to play, finally, and he found himself smiling at the sight of popcorn stuck in her hair and kernels dotting her lips.

He shifted closer to her, popcorn bowl resting on his lap now and as the film continued it's darkened route to juvenile murder, she tucked her head into his shoulder.  

"Bruce," she murmured halfway through the movie-right around the second murder or so, he kind of lost track after a while with this movie-"Why exactly are you awake this early?"

He froze and glanced down at her; her eyes were cloudy with sleep now, but as was usual with the Black Widow, they were not completely unaware.  Shadows filled their darkened depths, dangerous and deep and full of nightmares she would never be able to escape.

He wondered why he understood those shadows so well.

Surely they were not the same as his own personal demons?

Surely...surely she was far braver than he was?

"Sometimes," he began slowly, his arm wrapping lightly around her shoulders when she shivered, eyes once more turned to the the movie and Winona Ryder's worsening relationship issues.  "Sometimes I have to escape with a good movie and some tea," he said finally.  He shifted deeper into the couch, letting her slightly body curl even deeper into his.  "It's easier that way...to escape the noise in my head."  

She ran her fingers along the curvature of the nearly empty popcorn bowl for a moment, listening to his very rare confession about the so-called "noise in his head" and sighed.  "I'm leaving with Sam and Steve tomorrow," she whispered-almost too soft for him to hear.  "We think we might have found the Winter Soldier-or at least one of his bolt-holes."  

Winona Ryder screamed, making them both jump and his arm tightened even more around her slender body, his chin pressing into her curls.  

He understood now, why she was up so early.

Shadows, he'd come to realize, were particularly worse when they weren't of your own making but still part of your history.  

"Natasha," he sighed, "If there's anything I've learned from the Hulk it's that sometimes it's better to face your past head-on and damn the consequences."

He gestured at the movie screen, where the two young leads were fighting in the bowels of their high school, and grinned as she glanced from him to the film.  "For example-if you can't stop your ex with some carefully chosen words, maybe you should just blow-up the school instead!"

She laughed at that, eyes flying wide in surprise at his joke, and she smacked his chest lightly.

"Bruce!  You're awful," she sputtered and to his utter surprise, leaned up to press a kiss to his stubbled cheek.  “Thank you, Dr. Banner,” she murmured as the movie came to a gorey end and a red scrunchie was exchanged.  “That really does help.”  

His smile was gentle, despite the tension in the back of his skull and he hugged her gently to his chest before releasing her.  “Not a problem Ms. Romanoff,” he said quietly as she slid gracefully from the couch, barely long-enough t-shirt bearing his green likeness (and where in hell had she gotten that?!) flapping around her thighs as she did.  “I hope your hunt goes well this morning.”

Her smile only shook a bit and he shivered when she ran her fingers through his curls, a pointless attempt at smoothing their own chaos.  “We’ll see Bruce.  We’ll see.”

Her exit was silent and as the door closed behind her, lights coming slowly up the moment the latch clicked, he sighed wearily.

For the first time in days-months really, since Tony’s run-in with AIM and Pepper’s exposure to the Extremis virus-he felt like he might actually be able to get some decent sleep.

And that without the aid of a single sedative or cup of chamomile tea.

He smiled at the thought, even as his eyes grew heavier and before he could think to go to his own room or even the couch in his lab, he sagged into the spot still warm from the Black Widow’s slight body.  

Only JARVIS witnessed the rumbling snore that issued from his lips.  

**

The smell of freshly burnt popcorn wafted across his nose and he woke with a sneeze.  

“Good morning sunshine,” quipped a muffled voice and Bruce gazed blearily around the living room, taking in the overturned popcorn bowl he and Natasha had been munching out of, and finally the sprawled figure of yet another Avenger.

The smell of dirty socks, burnt and especially putrid this early in the morning, surrounded the sandy-haired figure and he blinked owlishly before sneezing once more.

“That stuff smells awful Clint,” he grumbled, hands rising to rub sleep from his eyes.  “How do you eat it.”

Barton snorted and tossed another handful of toxic orange popcorn into his mouth-the strays were gobbled up by the one-eyed yellow lab sitting directly beneath his sprawled legs-muttering as he did, “It tastes like cheese, Jesus, you guys are so weird.”

Bruce smiled and shook his head, stretching out a hand for a few of the dangerous smelling kernels himself.  

“What are you doing Clint?” he asked as he munched carefully on the half-burnt snack and the other Avenger grinned at the sight.

“Oh you know,” he said with a chuckle, reaching for the remote Tony insisted they didn’t need to use since JARVIS could control everything electronic in the Tower.  “I was thinking about watching a movie since we seem to have the day off today.”  He smirked in Bruce’s direction and as the screen once more lit with the opening production stills of the film he’d selected he said, “How do you feel about that American classic, Caddyshack?”

Bruce simply rolled his eyes and headed towards the kitchen and the cup of chamomile he suddenly needed pretty desperately.  

“I think I’ve had enough of classics today, Clint,” he muttered as he went.  “Thanks though.”

The archer simply shrugged and tossed another handful of popcorn into his mouth, sharing half as he did, with his dog.    
“Suit yourself Doc,” he mumbled as Bruce hurried from the room.  “But you’re missing something timeless here.”  

Orange popcorn scattered over Avenger and dog and Bruce simply smiled.  

Shadows, he’d realized, were sometimes best left to the films and friends best suited for silent understanding.  

  
  



End file.
